BERLIN, January 22 (Sputnik) – Foreign ministers of Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France finished the "Normandy Format" talks regarding regulating Ukrainian crisis, a RIA Novosti correspondent reported Thursday.
High-level and ministerial Normandy format meetings on Ukrainian reconciliation date back to June 2014, when leaders of the four countries met in Normandy, France to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the allied landings in World War II.
According to Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin, "real de-escalation" of violence is expected at a high-level Normandy format summit in the Kazakh capital of Astana, with an exact date to be announced.
Despite the ceasefire agreement, reached by the warring sides in Minsk in September 2014, the conflict in Eastern Ukraine escalated rapidly during the first weeks of 2015.
